Zinedine Zidane has lauded the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo after the Real Madrid forward made a goalscoring return to action in the 5-2 La Liga victory over Osasuna. The 31-year-old Portugal forward has not featured since picking up a knee injury in the final of Euro 2016, but wasted no time in opening his account for the season with a simple tap-in after he was teed up by Gareth Bale early on in Saturday's clash.
Zidane, who has now seen his side extend its winning streak in La Liga to 15 games, was delighted to see his star back in action, backing the ex-Manchester United man to swiftly re-find his form. "I hope he scores a lot of goals. He's beating all the records one by one and I'm sure he'll get to 100 [Champions League] goals," said Zidane, who will now switch his attention to the European fixture with Sporting CP.
"He's got that special touch on the big occasions. He always creates danger and it's good he got his early goal." Ronaldo's game came to a premature end midway through the second half as he made way for Karim Benzema, but Zidane confirmed the change was merely precautionary, adding that the forward's game-time would have to be managed correctly.
"I didn't discuss anything with him [Ronaldo]. I simply enjoyed seeing him out there on the pitch. I always want him with me," Zidane said. "Let's see on Wednesday how much he'll play. We've got seven games in 21 days coming up. I thought Benzema did well, playing behind [Alvaro] Morata. He had rhythm. On Wednesday he will be ready to play."
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